Yu Darvish Stole Anthony Rizzo’s Walk-Up Music
The game was sufficiently tight and tense that I missed it the first time he walked out, but by Yu Darvish’s second at bat, I could hear it clearly: the former Cubs ace had swiped Anthony Rizzo’s instantly-recognizable walk-up music for his stroll to the plate.
Pretty awesome. You can catch the song, and Darvish’s antics, on the San Diego broadcast of his first AB:
yu calling for rizz and then walking up with rizzo’s walk-up song with a huge smile🥺 pic.twitter.com/jQuYjtJRso
— navoo (@kboomszn) June 9, 2021
You can see that Darvish was trying to get Rizzo’s attention, and also signaling to anyone who would look at him that it was going to be worth listening to his music this time.
Anthony Rizzo raises his arms in disbelief while Yu Darvish uses his walk-up music.
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) June 9, 2021
Turns out, Darvish wasn’t really trolling Rizzo with the move, he was honoring him:
Yu Darvish stole Anthony Rizzo's walk-up music when he came to bat in his first start against the Cubs today. It was his way to honor him.
"It was Rizzo who kind of took care of me when things weren't really working my way in Chicago."https://t.co/W8oBlEWjBL
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) June 10, 2021
“I used that song because it was Rizzo who kind of took care of me when things weren’t really working my way in Chicago,” Darvish said, per ESPN. “It was, in a way, to say ‘thank you’ to him. And obviously I have a good relationship with him.”
Nicely done, Yu. Enjoyed by all, and funny, too.
